Melbourne: Australia skipper Ricky Ponting fears that the tour of India in October may hamper their preparation for the Ashes series commencing in November 25 at Brisbane.
Ponting said ideally Australia should not have played on dry and flat Indian pitches in the run-up to the five-match series against arch-rivals England at home.
“If you were trying to sit down and map out your perfect preparation for an Ashes series or a home series it probably wouldn't be playing two Test matches in India,” Ponting said. “But you don't live in an ideal world. That's the way international cricket is these days,” Ponting was quoted as saying by The Australian.
Australia play two Tests — in Chandigarh (October 1-5) and Bangalore (October 9-13) — followed by three one-dayers during their India tour. Talking about Australia's three-wicket defeat against Pakistan in the second Test at Leeds, Ponting admitted that he had misjudged the batting conditions after winning the toss. “We were definitely playing catch-up from stumps day one. That's my responsibility, to get those sorts of things right and make those decisions,” Ponting said.
Meanwhile, Simon Katich said India tour would be a big challenge for the youngsters of the team who are yet to play Test cricket in the sub-continent, adding that it would be a very tough two-Test series.
“We do have obviously quite a few young guys stepping into Test cricket now who haven't played in India before, so that will be a test for them, but it's going to be a good challenge,” Katich was quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press.
Katich, who returned home from England along with paceman Doug Bollinger after the drawn two-Test series against Pakistan, said all-rounder Steven Smith and wicketkeeper Tim Paine were brilliant against Pakistan, but felt Mitchell Johnson, Ben Hilfenhaus and Bollinger were off-colour in the series.
“I guess the guys probably would have been a little bit disappointed, but they were all trying and you can't fault their efforts,” he said. “They all put in and tried their hardest, it just didn't happen.” PTI
